NEWS & UPDATES

A luxury hotel room with Thinka voice control

In this video you can see how voice control is being used in the Royal Suite of the Pomegranate Wellness Spa Hotel. It shows voice control of lights, thermostat, curtains, scenes, and more. This hotel room uses KNX home automation and a Thinka, a bridge connecting KNX to the world of Google, Amazon and Apple and gives users all new kind of possibilities like voice control, touch control, geo fences and more.

A KNX project of George Karipidis.

Thinka is keeping you warm this winter

Thinka has multiple configuration options, mostly optional, for controlling thermostats. I'll try to explain each option and try to describe how this option is available in HomeKit.‍First off, the most simple version of a thermostat is one where you can only set the target temperature. To get this to work Thinka only requires two group addresses. One address for the actual temperature and one for the setpoint temperature. Use a temperature sensor when you only want to be able to read the actual temperature. This will show up in Apple's Home app as a simple temperature slider. Or use Siri:"Hey Siri, it's cold in here" "Okay, I'm warming the living room from 19°C to 20°C."‍We can also let Thinka know if your KNX climate system is currently heating or not. This is done with the "Heating status" setting. When you system is heating this will show in the Home app as "Heating to X°" and the icon will turn orange.‍Same goes for "Cooling status". This only applies if you KNX climate system supports cooling and it works the same as the "Heating status" above. This will show in the Home app as "Cooling to X°" and the icon will turn blue.‍Some KNX climate systems require manual switching between heating and cooling and don't do this automatically. For this to work from HomeKit you can use the "Heating/cooling mode" setting. This setting shows up in HomeKit when long pressing the thermostat icon in the Home app and then go to "Mode" at the bottom of the screen. When this setting isn't used the "Mode" will be set to "Auto" and Thinka expects the KNX climate system to switch between heating and cooling automatically.‍The last available setting is "Operating mode". This enables the HomeKit option to set the Thermostat to "Off" from the "Mode" menu. For most KNX climate systems this means the system is switched from "Comfort" to "Building protect" and prevents freezing or overheating the system.

Thinka at Light + Building 2018 in Frankfurt

Thinka was exhibitor at the Light + Building Trade Fair in Frankfurt. The number of visitors and positive reactions at the Thinka stand where overwhelming.

Thank you all for who have visited us.We are already looking forward to Light + Building 2020.

Vote now on the KNX People’s Choice Award

Top entrepreneur and ALS patient Bernard Muller uses Thinka to control his home. Thinka connects Apple's voice assistant Siri to KNX. With only his voice Bernard is now able to move around his house without the need for help from other people. Even his in-house elevator is now voice controlled. This gives him mental and physical freedom.

This case is nominated for the prestigious KNX People’s Choice Award. Please help us promote this case by voting for Bernard and Siri for KNX. Three good reasons to do so:

Voice control is a great innovation for all physically challenged people

Thinka has left the building.

The first 100 Thinkas are on their way to their new owners and we can't wait to hear how Alexa is getting on in her new KNX home(s).



SoftwarePCBCasing



AssemblyPackaging

All parts are delivered. Almost there!

We have received all the parts to build a (Amazon Echo) Thinka.Next week we'll perform our last tests and start packaging.



SoftwarePCBCasing



AssemblyPackaging

Custom Thinka boards finished and delivered

Getting real close now.

Cases from China have arrived

We just received our new casing from China. Soon we will start building Thinka's.

Thinka has a new skill!

We have completed development of Amazon Echo support. Amazon Echo is available in the UK and Germany and is becoming more and more popular

We are offering Amazon Echo support for free.

Reached a couple of important milestones

We have made good progress and are about to finalise all custom hardware.

Mould for the custom case

The production of the custom Thinka case has begun, starting with making the mould.The casing wil be grey with a red bottom. Hope you'll like it.

How to prepare a thinka for use

Prepare your Thinka using this video instruction. It shows how to upload a new ETS project and edit the results to get your accessories ready.Have fun watching our first video.

The first Thinkas has been shipped

The first early adopters have received their Thinkas. We have shipped the first batch on May 31st.Next international shipment is expected to ship June 10th.

Thinka packaging has arrived!

The Thinka box has arrived together with the setup guide. Exiting times for Thinka and her early adopters.Thinka is almost ready to be shipped

Thinka update 2 april 2016

At the end of April the first Thinkas will be on their way. This is an exciting moment for us and a great step forward in the area of home and building automation. Below, a brief Thinka update.

Plug & PlayThinka has two kinds of clients. One is the KNX system integrator and the other is the end-user. For both Thinka is striving for the best user experience and a seamless onboarding process. This means a lot of testing and adjusting with real clients. For the KNX system integrator it is important to see, recognize and manage all items of the KNX system and get it ready to use for the end-user. For the end-user it is important to understand how the app works and how they can get the most out of it. We have received some great feedback from our real-world tests that is helping us improve the Thinka experience for everyone.

Thinka selected to join StartupFest opening

From 24-28 May 2016 The Netherlands will be the place where every startup in the world wants to be. It is a four day marathon of matchmaking between startups, investors, developers and corporates. Fourteen regional innovation hubs will host world class events on specialized topics.See also: startupfesteurope

Thinka is one of the selected startups to join the opening event.Very exciting, especially with this great speakers around: